Chapter 13: 362 Future Gods
Breathe, Freya... breathe.
She inhaled slowly, exhaled, again, until the turmoil ebbed away. Keeping a clear head was the foundation of everything, especially for her. One thing at a time. Come on. Calm down.
Once fully settled, she first clicked on the first of her new titles, curious to know what it granted her and what it stood for.
[ Dungeon Overlord ]
One of the 7 great entities who reign over the Dungeon Lords.
Grants:
Absolute authority over the members of your faction, as well as access to the Overlord’s Menu.
The right to convene a Summit of Dungeon Overlords.
The skill [ Subspace ].
A gain of 1% of the mana of each faction member.
HUUUUH?!
Freya nearly screamed like a madwoman as she read the last point. Everything else fell by the wayside, while the result of the calculation was already forming, instantaneous, in her once-again lucid mind.
Roughly 1.2 mana per member per day, as things currently stand.
And that was without counting everything each member would earn on their own, beyond the simple passive generation of their own Heart. She couldn’t hold back a laugh at the thought of all her faction would bring her, without her having to lift a finger.
She turned her head toward the notifications, which hadn’t stopped piling up.
[ "ShoeSize?" wishes to join you. Yes / No ]
She clicked Yes without thinking.
[ "SteelCrescent" wishes to join you. Yes / No ]
Yes, again.
And so on, over and over, her finger rattling through the acceptances until the counter finally dropped back to zero. Then, feverish, unable to wait a second longer, she lunged at what interested her above all else: to see with her own eyes what she’d just reaped.
[ Menu of the Overlord of Greed ]
[ Members: 362 ]
[ Management ]
[ Private Faction Chat ]
WHAT? WHAAT? WHAAAT?! Was this meant to kill me?! 362 members?!
If I take the average of 1.2 and multiply it by 362... The calculation tumbled out on its own. That comes to four... four hundred... 434, give or take.
A warmth flooded through her entire body. She rose to her feet, more elated than she’d ever been in her life. She didn’t even know how to react, how to release the joy overflowing from every part of her, so she did the only thing that came to mind: she moved, laughing from the bottom of her heart.
"I’m riiich, I’m riiich... rich, rich, riiich!!!" she belted out at the top of her lungs, the last part half sung, carried by a little improvised tune.
She flat-out started dancing, chanting her mantra, twirling in the middle of the room without a care for anything else. Her feet carried her on their own, her laughter rang against the stone, and for a few seconds, nothing existed but that magnificent number blinking in a corner of her mind.
Then, little by little, awareness came back to her. That silence, all around, that wasn’t quite a silence. That feeling, on the back of her neck, of being watched. Her twirling slowed, slowed further, and when she finally turned her head to the side, she saw them.
Aria, Laïa, Naïa, Jūichi, and Jūni. All of them there. All staring at her as if she’d lost her mind.
Realizing all at once the extent of what she’d just done, Freya froze mid-motion, one foot still in the air, and set it back down very slowly. She scratched her cheek, looking thoroughly embarrassed, groping for a composure that wouldn’t come. It was Aria who broke the silence.
"Good news, I take it?"
"That’s... exactly it."
And, for lack of a better way out, she set about explaining everything to them.
She told them about the title, the faction, what it meant, that famous mana gain that had put her in such a state. Aria nodded at every sentence, hanging on her every word, grasping each implication with ease and delighting in it almost as much as she did.
"This is exceptional, mistress. Even among superior beings, you stand out!" the demon enthused, a glimmer of pride at the back of her eyes, as if her mistress’s triumph were a little her own.
Beside them, on the other hand, the two sisters made for a distinctly less thrilled picture. Laïa was frowning, Naïa nodding politely, but both wore that stiff smile of someone who doesn’t want to admit they’re completely lost.
They can’t be catching half of what I’m saying, Freya mused, with all these words about systems, chats, factions and the rest. For two girls from a remote village who’d never known anything but the fields and the fear of raiders, all of it must have sounded like pure gibberish.
Anyway. Now that the misunderstanding about her mental health was cleared up, or nearly, she felt like checking in on them.
"So, this room, is it to your liking?"
It was Naïa who answered, after a second’s hesitation, as if weighing her words.
"It’s... it’s far too big, and far too luxurious. We don’t deserve something like this, madam."
There was more than modesty in her voice. A real unease, the kind that came from a girl of a humble village who’d never known anything but the bare necessities, and who had no idea what to do with such luxury suddenly placed in her hands.
"Being humble is a virtue, Naïa," Freya replied, more gently. "But be careful it doesn’t come at the expense of your comfort. And above all, of your sister’s. You no longer have to beg for your place anywhere. Here, it’s yours by right."
Something shifted completely in the young girl’s gaze. Her eyes misted over for a fraction of a second, and she pressed her lips together, as if those few words had just loosened some long-held knot within her.
"I understand. Thank you."
Then Freya was seized by a sudden urge, the urge to celebrate all this, to let out this overflow of emotion.
"Aria, take the girls and go hunt down something to feast on tonight. And I’m counting on you for their education, from here on out."
Her body had no primal needs, though. She felt neither fatigue nor hunger. But she still wanted to taste a real meal, for once, after all this time, and above all to give the girls a proper evening, the kind that makes you forget the rest.
"It shall be done. See to your priorities with a clear mind, I’ll take care of everything," Aria replied, dipping into a curtsy.
The girls imitated her, bending their bodies with a touching clumsiness, their hesitant curtsies awkwardly modeled on the demon’s perfect one. Rather cute, Freya thought.
"Good luck, girls ~" she chirped, her gaze already turning to the next step.
She turned toward Jūichi and Jūni, and headed for the first plot, eager to get this part over with quickly.
"System, a Dungeon Farm, please."
[ Create a Dungeon Farm for 35 mana points? ]
"Yes."
It appeared. Freya didn’t linger, moving straight on to the next building.
"Here, a Research Center, please."
[ Create a Research Center for 60 mana points? ]
"Yes."
And it rose up in turn.
Nothing like the rest. Shelves carved straight into the rock, sagging under leather-bound tomes and rolled parchments. Magical instruments set out on a long table, alembics, crystal lenses, quills and vials of luminescent ink, all wreathed in a soft glow of mana that hung in the air.
Wow... it’s beautiful.
She was burning to explore its new features, but couldn’t help standing there a moment, taking it all in.
Until now, she’d built farms, mines, corridors. Useful things, functional, but crude. This was different. This breathed knowledge, power patiently amassed.
For the first time, her dungeon no longer looked like a mere worksite. It was starting to look like a kingdom.
When she finally managed to tear her eyes away, it wasn’t for a building that she spoke.
"I’d like to summon a Mycofox Researcher now."
[ Summon a Mycofox Researcher for 20 mana points? ]
"Yes!" she said, all excited, intrigued to discover what it would look like.
It appeared. A little ball of fur like the others, but standing bolt upright on its paws, looking surprisingly serious. A tiny pair of round spectacles rested on its snout, and its mushroom cap, a deep mauve, pulsed in time with its thoughts.
"Hello there, Jūsan," she said with a little wave.
The small scholar considered her for a moment, then launched in.
"Kyuuu, kyuuu kyuuu kyuuu kyuuu kyu kyu?"
Oooh, he’s stringing whole sentences together.
"Soooo cute." She scooped him up and set him on her lap, sitting down to scratch him, already excited to move on to what came next: her faction’s private chat.
I need to understand what happened now. How I ended up here. And why, above all, I’ve got so many members.
"And you’re going to help me, aren’t you? Yes you are, you’re going to help me," she cooed, stroking Jūsan.
Then the scene came back to her all at once. Her little dance. All those eyes fixed on her mid-meltdown. The heat rushed back up to her cheeks in one go.
Let’s stay composed now. Composed...
[ Private Faction Chat ]
Huh? Not a single message? How come?
A system window opened in her field of vision.
[ To activate the private faction chat, you must first hold a meeting in the Subspace. ]
Ah, that’s the skill I got with my title. What does it do, exactly?
[ Subspace: Allows the host to create a space where time does not flow, together with the members of their faction. Can also bring in any person through physical contact. ]
So that’s what it’s for? I have to hold a meeting with my faction, then.
And there, the euphoria dropped away all at once.
A meeting. With 362 people. All turned toward me.
Freya swallowed.
She who, on the chat, hid behind a handle and weighed every message three times before sending it. She who, in her past life, already dreaded speaking up in front of a dozen colleagues.
And now she was going to have to present herself, in the flesh, before a crowd of three hundred and sixty-two Dungeon Lords who, from now on, all recognized her as their leader.
Great. Really great.
She sighed. And yet, beneath the apprehension, the excitement was there, stubborn, impossible to smother. Because barely more than two days earlier, Aria had been telling her about the possibility of becoming a god. And here she was already at the head of 362 future potential gods. If she played her cards right, this was only the beginning.
She set Jūsan back down on the ground, and the little one bolted straight for the Research Center, as if finally set free.
Then, swallowing her stage fright, she spoke the words.
"Initiating Subspace."
[ INVITATION OF THE 362 MEMBERS INTO THE SUBSPACE SENT. ]
[ TRANSPORT OF PARTICIPANTS IN PROGRESS. ]
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